Johnson County voters soundly rejected the proposal to elect their District Court judges, preferring to stick with the “merit-selection” system the county has used since 1974. The process involves a screening panel of seven lawyers and seven laypeople that uses public interviews and meetings to pick a slate of three top candidates, one of whom the governor appoints to the district bench. Advocates of electing judges, as Sedgwick County does, argued it would give citizens more control and judges more accountability. But on Tuesday nearly 60 percent of Johnson County voters “said we’re not going to turn our judges into political animals,” attorney Greg Musil of Johnson Countians for Justice told the Kansas City Star.
Meanwhile, Sedgwick County voters this year realized some of the worries of the Johnson County ballot measure’s opponents: A total 23 candidates vied for campaign donations in the legal community. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent. And on Tuesday voters gave the appearance of putting party affiliation first in handing all eight contested seats to Republicans (including the court’s fourth conservative GOP state legislator-turned-judge), in the process leaving the county’s bench all-male.
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6 Comments
I don’t follow the judicial elections. But the only woman I recall on the ballot, Pilshaw, had ethics problems. Something to remember before lamenting how the county bench is ‘all-male’.
The underlying reason for the Johnson County vote was that the loony-right Republicans in Joco wanted one more way to get Philll Kline on the public payroll. Note it well, Republicans: you let the wild-eyed, rather-be-right-than-win ideologues take over party leadership and you’ll never get rid of them. Now Johnson County registers Republican and votes Democratic.
Jama Mitchell was a female judge candidate.
So were Karen Langston and Dickgrafe.
Until Sedgwick Countians see the light and realize the de facto corruption that takes place in their courts every day, we will never get politics out of our courtrooms and true professionalism in.
It is a shame that the ‘good old boy” system is apparently alive and well in Sedgwick county. Wilbert had an ethics problem as well and it was swept under the rug…..his opponent alluded to this in her commercials. where was the Eagle in all this? they crucified Pilshaw and let Wilbert slide???? If that ain’t the goold old boy system, I don’t know what is!